Disturbed (1990)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Charles Winkler

Writers:

Emerson Bixby (screenplay)
Emerson Bixby (story)

Release Date:

16 November 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

The Doctor is in... but out of his mind!

Plot:

10 years ago the perverse Dr. Russell couldn't resist the beauty of a young patient in his mental clinic and raped her one night...

Plot Keywords:

Patient | Gagged And Bound | Murder | Rape | Suicide

Cast

Malcolm McDowell	...	Dr. Derrick Russell
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Michael Kahn
Priscilla Pointer	...	Nurse Francine
Pamela Gidley	...	Sandy Ramirez
Irwin Keyes	...	Pat Tuel
Clint Howard	...	Brian
Peter Murnik	...	Brad
Carrie Lynn	...	Tina
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Barbara Babbin	...	Visitor
Emerson Bixby	...	Mental Patient
Dean Cameron	...	Singing Telegram Man
Lydell M. Cheshier	...	Lidell
B. Lee Drew	...	Officer Bill Wyman
Lee Drew	...	Officer Bill
Sandra Ganzer	...	Young Sandy
Maria R. Kelly	...	Kari (as Maria Kelley)
Marla Levine	...	Nurse Leslie
Tony Markes	...	Officer Lenny
Kim McGuire	...	Selina
Irving William Moseley Jr.	...	Mr. Yorkin
Adam Rifkin	...	Gary
Michele Rifkin	...	Gary's Mother
Deep Roy	...	Marty
Jack David Walker	...	Swakertt

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Spain:18 | Australia:M | France:-12 | Germany:16 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Colorado, USA

Movie Connections:

References "The Johnny Carson Show" (1955)

A fairly enjoyable and funny movie.

Part comedy, part mystery, part thriller, and part satire of folks working in the mental health field, "Disturbed" is a sometimes flashy, sometimes trippy, sometimes pretty funny movie, highlighted by Malcolm McDowells' delightful histrionics, as well as the efforts of a fine supporting cast including the always welcome Geoffrey Lewis, Priscilla Pointer, Clint Howard, Irwin Keyes, and the very sexy Pamela Gidley.

As the movie opens, a mental patient is drugged and raped by an unknown assailant; shortly after, the poor, distraught woman commits suicide. Flash forward ten years, and the mental institution where this takes place is welcoming a new patient: Sandy Ramirez (Gidley), a volatile former model who feels that her looks hinder her more than help her. When she suffers a similar fate to that of the woman in the prologue, the good Dr. Russell (McDowell) starts losing his grip as he begins to doubt whether she really is dead.

"Disturbed" succeeds the most in creating a sense of paranoia and uncertainty. It's fun to watch the film-makers mess with our minds as well as that of the good doctor. McDowell is a lot of fun; the more he goes completely off his rocker, the funnier that he gets. In fact, the movie strikes a respectable balance between being creepy and delivering the laughs. The director, Charles Winkler (son of veteran Hollywood producer and director Irwin Winkler) also makes a game attempt at injecting it with some style - just note the camera work and the camera angles. One unbelievably silly shot actually takes the P.O.V. of a penis, I kid you not! It's a reasonably entertaining, offbeat, and amusing little movie. You can tell these film-makers were enjoying themselves making this: right before the end credits begin, you actually hear Winkler saying "Cut it." And there's an additional little bit of warped levity *after* the end credits that's worth waiting for.

Writer Emerson Bixby is the son of the sci-fi writer Jerome Bixby, so it's cool that there's two second-generation talents that are the brains behind this thing.

I had a good enough time watching it.

6/10